West End Drinking

Hopped on the train from South East London was an uneventful journey with the usual mix of weekend shoppers and people speaking loudly about their personal lives on their phones.  I happened to be sitting next to a man dressed like a spy!  

Definitely a spy!

I wandered out of Charring Cross and into the Princess of Wales the usual meeting place.  As always they were supplying a good selection I had a very nice pint of Gunpowder Mild from the Coach House Brewing Company.  It was in my opinion one on the best milds I’d had for a while.  It was such a nice refreshing easy to drink pint with the right amount of flavour and hoppy notes.  I bought the Stoat a pint of White Horse Village Idiot just so I could say when he arrived that I got him a pint that reminded me of him.  

 

We headed up into the heart of Covent Garden, tourist central for London.  Making our way through the crowds we finally reached the Lamb and Flag.    

Lamb and Flag

We arrived at about 3pm and it was already filling up.  There is a decent selection on tap with Dark Star, Adnams and Youngs all being represented.  We both went for the Dark Star Best.  Being in the centre of Covent Garden I cannot imagine there is a quiet time at this pub so if you come be prepared to have to stand up.  We managed to get some bar stools near the entrance and chatted to lots of people who were coming in on some form of pub based history quiz competition.  We were sitting right by the notice which gives the history of the pub.  It’s certainly been around for a long time and it shows with some interesting pub design elements.  It’s always fascinating to visit pubs that have such an interesting history and famous visitors such as Dickens.   We did have a look upstairs where they have some food which looked to be a mini carvery.  It didn’t smell great, bit like that horrible sprouts smell you get in a Toby Carvery.  But we didn’t try it so won’t comment on it more than to say you can get some food there but remember you are in Covent Garden where there are numerous other restaurants.  Talking of other smells I broke a rule of mine and had a look at some other reviews before writing mine and I noticed they often mentioned a wiff about the place like toilets!  I did notice this and it’s not the first time I’ve noticed it in a pub in London, one of the worst I’d been in for that was the Market Porter in Borough Market.  However I did like the Lamb and Flag but I wasn’t blown away by any means.  I would see it as a decent place for a pint in Covent Garden but not somewhere I’d make a special effort to go to.  It does have the history but it’s not really backed up with any other outstanding features like a wide beer selection, interesting decor or good food.  They probably don’t need to make too much effort to keep going as they get enough foot traffic from passers by who drop in for a beer.  

Bar at the Lamb - it's not that small that lady is just really tall!!

Next pub on the list for today was The Salisbury.  This is a pub that I have been visiting for years.  I have always loved visiting this pub and I had my first pint of Doom Bar here.  From the first moment you enter you realise there is something special about the place by the amazing etched glass all around the pub.  It is the classic ‘gin palace’ style pub.  The Salisbury always has a busy bustling atmosphere due to its theatre district location.  The staff have always been top notch when I’ve been there and service is usually swift even if the bar is busy.  They have a similar range of beer to the Lamb with Sharps Doom Bar, Youngs and St Austell Tribute.  I hope the Doom Bar will always be as good as the first time I visited now that it has been bought out by the beer giant Molson Coors!  We met a few more mates in there and most of us went for the Doom Bar with the exception of Hoody who I’ve not managed to convince to drink ale yet and don’t hold out much hope of ever doing so.   I’m not sure what it is about The Salisbury but it always has that cozy relaxed pub feel to it.  It is a pub that is bursting with character and charm, with good beers and good service it has to be a top contender for best pub in the west end.  

The Salisbury

Some randoms and the etched glass

Overall a good day out at two good west end pubs.  After some consideration (about 6 pints worth) I’d always visit The Salisbury over the Lamb and Flag even though they have a similar beer range and beer snacks The Salisbury has that extra edge that makes a great pub. 

The Next Step

I had to take this adventure beyond the South East of London.  It was already Febuary and I still hadn’t been to anywhere North of the river.  My good mate Woody said he was around for a pub crawl.  It was with Woody that my original interest in pubs began.  Before then my interest in pubs was based only seeing them as a place to drink.  I was more interested in different types of beer and trying as many different beers as I could over time.  I still love trying new beers, going to beer festivals, going to Belgium (Bruge) or just to good pubs to try new beers but it was always just about the beer.  If I could get a good pint of beer that I had never had before that would be great but I didn’t really care where we were.  

Maybe it was because I was starting to have to go further afield to find new beers or if it was just age and looking for a more rounded drinking experience but I started to notice how interesting pubs can be.  I had drunk so many different types of beer (I recently was given a book called 1001 beers to drink before you die, I’d had a large proportion of them).  The reason why Woody played such a big part of this was because he suggested one day that we meet in London for a beer.  We met up at 4pm and went on an epic pub crawl during which I was introduced to some great pubs like The Salisbury pub, the Princess of Wales down by Charring Cross and De Hems in Soho.  This day out was the spark that set my interest in pubs going.  After that pub crawls around London became a semi regular event which has continued to this day.   Most of the pubs we visited were in the West End and Westminster.  Cheers Woody and long my it continue!

I love a guide, as you can probably tell from this blog which its self is based on a guide.  I don’t really follow the view that guides just take you to where all the other tourists go, usually guides like the good pub guide for example, do a very good job.  As such I went to waterstones and bought the CAMRA London Pub Walks book.  I had a look at this and planned to do walk number 21 in Notting Hill and Bayswater as my next pub visit.  This would include two pubs on my list the Churchill Arms and the Windsor Castle.  Importantly as well they were the first two pubs on the walk so I would not be too drunk to give them a good view.